Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa
Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa
Like it or not, debate about Aston Villa's future at Villa Park has been rife among supporters in the last year given the club's rapid progress under Unai Emery.
The club's president of business operations Chris Heck has said there are no plans to leave B6 or build a new stadium, despite the possibility of accessing more revenue opportunities if they did. Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are in a rush to oversee success, but their spending power is limited due to Premier League and UEFA regulations.
Although Villa qualified for the Champions League and reached the Europa Conference League semi-final last season, they still had to raise funds to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and UEFA's squad cost ratio rules. The club plans to generate revenues of £400m by 2027 and supporters have felt the pinch after tickets for Champions League matches were priced at extortionate amounts.
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"Financial Fair Play Rules prohibit owners from covering shortfalls to finance this ambition, so we need to generate as much revenue as possible through sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales to ensure that we can keep the club where it rightfully belongs - competing (and winning) at the top of English and European football," Heck explained after the club received fierce backlash for their pricing strategy.
Many Villa fans can't bear the thought of leaving Villa Park and the same could be said for Newcastle supporters at St. James' Park. However, the Magpies - who are also intent on consistently challenging the 'big six' - are "seriously considering" moving to a new stadium, which could see the club double its revenue than it currently makes.
With a capacity of 52,000, St. James' Park is one of the largest stadiums in English football, but, due to the growth of the club and financial power that has arrived at Newcastle in recent years, more seats are needed to keep up with the demand and to capitalise on potential revenues.
Speaking at a Newcastle United "We Are United" fan event earlier this month, chief operating officer (COO) Brad Miller said: "We have also taken the opportunity to look at what will a new stadium look like. It’s not comparing apples with apples, they are not like for like. It’s comparing apples with pears.
“The brilliant thing about St. James’ is it is in an iconic location, the atmosphere and the competitive edge it gives the team on the pitch, and it has 52,000 seats already.
“But a new stadium doesn’t have that and we’d have to pay for all those seats again. A new stadium has the potential to earn a lot more, both on matchdays and non-matchdays. It is giving us an indication that we can actually contribute even more to the football club and football side if we had a new stadium.”